VA Police Improvement and Accountability Act

IIB 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2429 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 16, 2021 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs AN ACT To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the staffing, transparency, and accountability of the law en- forcement operations of the Department of Veterans Af- fairs, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2429.RFS H2429 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 HR 2429 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘VA Police Improve- 2 ment and Accountability Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS TO TRANSPARENCY OF LAW EN- 4 FORCEMENT OPERATIONS OF DEPARTMENT 5 OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 6 (a) PROVISION OF INFORMATION.—Section 902 of 7 title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 8 end the following new subsection: 9 ‘‘(e)(1) The Secretary shall publish on the internet 10 website of each facility of the Department the following 11 information with respect to the facility: 12 ‘‘(A) Summaries and statistics covering the pre- 13 vious five-year period regarding— 14 ‘‘(i) arrests made by and tickets issued by 15 Department police officers; 16 ‘‘(ii) prosecutions, ticketing, and other ac- 17 tions relating to such arrests; 18 ‘‘(iii) the use of force and weapons dis- 19 charge by Department police officers; and 20 ‘‘(iv) complaints, investigations, and dis- 21 ciplinary actions regarding Department police 22 officers. 23 ‘‘(B) Contact information for employees of the 24 Department and the public to directly contact the 25 police force of the facility, including for an indi- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2429.RFS H2429 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 HR 2429 RFS vidual (or the representative, attorney, or authorized 1 agent of the individual) to request information re- 2 garding the arrest, ticketing, detainment, use of 3 force, or other police matters pertaining to that indi- 4 vidual. 5 ‘‘(2) The Secretary shall ensure that each police force 6 of a facility of the Department is able to provide to an 7 individual who contacts the police force pursuant to para- 8 graph (1)(B) the information described in such para- 9 graph.’’. 10 (b) USE OF BODY WORN CAMERAS BY DEPARTMENT 11 POLICE OFFICERS.— 12 (1) REQUIREMENT.—Subsection (a) of such 13 section 902 is amended by adding at the end the fol- 14 lowing new paragraph: 15 ‘‘(3) Beginning not later than 180 days after the date 16 of the enactment of this paragraph, the Secretary shall 17 require Department police officers to use cameras worn 18 on the individual police officer’s person that record and 19 store audio and video (commonly known as ‘body worn 20 cameras’).’’. 21 (2) GUIDANCE.—Not later than one year after 22 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 23 shall issue, and make publicly available, guidance on 24 the use of body worn cameras by Department police 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2429.RFS H2429 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 HR 2429 RFS officers pursuant to section 902(a)(3) of title 38, 1 United States Code, as amended by paragraph (1). 2 (3) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary shall issue 3 the guidance under paragraph (2) in consultation 4 with veterans service organizations, civil rights orga- 5 nizations, law enforcement organizations, law en- 6 forcement accreditation organizations, privacy rights 7 organizations, and other relevant organizations or 8 experts. 9 (c) DATA AND REPORTING ON POLICE INCIDENTS.— 10 Section 902 of title 38, United States Code, as amended 11 by subsection (a), is further amended by adding at the 12 end the following new subsection: 13 ‘‘(f) POLICE INCIDENTS.—(1)(A) The Secretary shall 14 track and analyze the following information regarding the 15 police force of the Department: 16 ‘‘(i) Arrests made by and tickets 17 issued by Department police officers. 18 ‘‘(ii) Prosecutions, ticketing, and 19 other actions relating to such arrests. 20 ‘‘(iii) The use of force and weapons 21 discharge. 22 ‘‘(iv) Complaints, investigations, and 23 disciplinary actions. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2429.RFS H2429 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 HR 2429 RFS ‘‘(B) The Secretary shall carry out subparagraph (A) 1 by implementing one or more Department-wide data sys- 2 tems. 3 ‘‘(2)(A) Beginning not later than one year after the 4 date of the enactment of this subsection, the Secretary 5 shall ensure that each incident described in subparagraph 6 (C) is promptly reported to the Assistant Secretary with 7 responsibility for operations, preparedness, security, and 8 law enforcement functions. 9 ‘‘(B) The Assistant Secretary shall, in a timely man- 10 ner— 11 ‘‘(i) review each incident described in subpara- 12 graph (C)(i) that is reported under subparagraph 13 (A); and 14 ‘‘(ii) investigate each incident described in sub- 15 paragraph (C)(ii) that is reported under subpara- 16 graph (A). 17 ‘‘(C) An incident described in this subparagraph is 18 either of the following: 19 ‘‘(i) An incident, including an allegation, of the 20 use of force by a Department police officer. 21 ‘‘(ii) An incident, including an allegation, of the 22 use of force by a Department police officer that re- 23 sults in any person receiving medical attention.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2429.RFS H2429 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 HR 2429 RFS (d) PLAN ON POLICE STAFFING.—The Secretary 1 shall develop a plan that establishes minimum standards 2 for police staffing at each facility of the Department, in- 3 cluding with respect to— 4 (1) the number of Department police officers 5 assigned to each facility; and 6 (2) the pay grades for such officers. 7 (e) REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 8 one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 9 Secretary shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Af- 10 fairs of the House of Representatives and the Senate a 11 report on the implementation of this section and the 12 amendments made by this section. The report shall include 13 the following: 14 (1) With respect to the staffing needs of the 15 Department police force— 16 (A) identification of the amount of turn- 17 over among Department police officers; 18 (B) how the compensation for Department 19 police officers affects such turnover; 20 (C) a comparison of such compensation 21 with the compensation provided to specialty po- 22 lice units, such as police units at medical facili- 23 ties and other police units in the same locality 24 pay area; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2429.RFS H2429 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 HR 2429 RFS (D) the plan developed under subsection 1 (d), including— 2 (i) estimates on the costs to carry out 3 the plan; and 4 (ii) any recommendations for legisla- 5 tive actions required to carry out the plan. 6 (2) With respect to body worn cameras, a re- 7 view of the implementation and use of body worn 8 cameras by Department police officers, including 9 under pilot programs carried out by the Secretary 10 during the five-year period preceding the date of the 11 report. 12 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 13 (1) The term ‘‘body worn camera’’ means a 14 camera worn on an individual police officer’s person 15 that records and stores audio and video. 16 (2) The term ‘‘Department police officer’’ 17 means an employee of the Department of Veterans 18 Affairs described in section 902(a) of title 38, 19 United States Code. 20 Passed the House of Representatives June 15, 2021. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:46 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2429.RFS H2429 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS